Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

July 2008

ST. PETERSBURG — Am I alone in thinking it’s time to slide Adam Lind up the batting order? Blue Jays skip Cito Gaston moved Lind up to the seventh hole again on Sunday, but I think it’d make sense to promot the youngster to the second spot.

Since being called up upon Gaston’s arrival, all Lind has done is hit .338 (22-for-65) with four homers and 17 RBIs in 19 games. Shoot, he’s hit as many long balls as Alex Rios in about a fifth of the at-bats. The way things are going, Lind may lead the whole stinkin’ team in homers when it’s all said and done.

“I want to see how he handles that sort of thing,” Gaston said about moving Lind higher in the order. “I think he can handle it. It’s not the first time. Who knows? This kid might end up being a four-place hitter. Let’s just take it a little bit at a time.”

On another note, Gaston wouldn’t go as far as saying Gregg Zaun was now the “backup” behind the plate, but the manager said he believes Rod Barajas has earned the right to have more playing time. Funny enough, they each had an 0-for-13 slump entering Sunday’s game against the Rays.

ST. PETERSBURG — It’s ’90s night here at The Trop and following the game, the Rays are having a concert featuring none other than MC Hammer. The Hammer, wearing a No. 44 Rays jersey, just threw out the ceremonial first pitch and he took BP prior to the game.

Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston was excited enough to be a part of Hammer Time that the skipper had his picture taken with the star rapper, turned preacher, and once, yes, batboy. Hammer was a batboy for the A’s from 1972-1980 and was around when Jays first-base coach Dwayne Murphy and hitting coach Gene Tenace were with the Oakland organization. Apparently, Reggie Jackson has taken credit for nicknaming the young Stanley Burrell “The Hammer” because he looked like Aaron.

“I’m a fan,” Gaston said. “I think Gino knew him when he was a kid. He was in the clubhouse all the time in Oakland. That name Hammer comes from a good friend of mine — Hank Aaron. I just walked out here today and I got to meet him out here. It was a good day for me.”

ST. PETERSBURG — I thought coming to St. Pete would allow us a chance to catch up with second baseman Aaron Hill, who has been residing in Florida these days while he tries to come back from his nasty concussion.

Unfortunately for us scribes, Hill was a no-show at the workout on Thursday and wasn’t with the team prior to Friday’s game. We did chat with Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi, who has resorted to shrugs when asked about Hill’s status.

Ricciardi said nobody’s told him to start worrying that Hill may be entering Corey Koskie territory here. But we did ask Ricciardi if it’s starting to approach a point where the Blue Jays believe Hill could possibly be done for the year.

“I think that’s how we’re looking now,” Ricciardi said. “I don’t think he is done for the year — unless someone tells us he is — but we’re preparing for a worst-base scenario.”

Needless to say, the Jays aren’t sounding very confident about Hill’s chances to make a swift return from the post-concussion symptoms he’s had since colliding with David Eckstein in late May. Hopefully, Hill can make a full return.

IN OTHER NEWS: Shaun Marcum is now the tentative starter for Tuesday in Baltimore. On Thursday, Marcum spun four perfect innings with six strikeouts for Class A Dunedin. If all goes according to plan, he’ll be activated from the DL to make the start … Righty Dustin McGowan (right shoulder) will be re-evaluated by Dr. Timothy Kremchek in two weeks. … In relation to trade rumors about A.J. Burnett, Ricciardi said, “I don’t see A.J. going anywhere.”

WHAT A KNIGHT: Thanks to Mark Zwolinksi of the Star for gutting it out to go see the midnight showing of The Dark Knight with me last night. Man, that was a spec-freakin-tacular film. Heath Ledger was amazing and the movie was strong. I didn’t get to bed until 4 a.m., but it was worth the lack of sleep. Go see it. I know I’m seeing it at least once more.

TORONTO – Anyone catch that Home Run Derby last night? Congrats to the Canadian Justin Morneau on taking the crown, but no one will remember that aspect. Everyone will remember the show that Josh Hamilton put on, putting some last-minute dents in Yankee Stadium before it closes its doors for good.

Seeing Hamilton rip baseballs off the billboards beyond the right-field bleachers and peppering the third deck with 500-foot bombs was a blast — 28 in the first round? Are you kidding me? And none were cheapos either. That was a joy to watch, even if I was in my living room in Toronto and not at The Stadium.

Mrs. Bastian is working tonight, so I’m planning on taking a break for the health kick I’m on by ordering a pizza and watching the All-Star Game. I will say that I believe BoSox manager Terry Francona made the wrong choice for the American League starter, going with Cliff Lee over Roy Halladay. But I digress…

COMMENT: Call me a sucker for a great storyline. There’s certainly a case to be made for Kinsler (.419 with runners in scoring position), or even Texas teammate Milton Bradley, but Hamilton’s 21 homers and 95 RBIs before the break seem too hard to ignore. To return from the depths that Hamilton has is amazing, and what he’s doing on a baseball field is simply icing on the cake.

COMMENT: Logging nearly 150 innings and spinning seven complete games and two shutouts before the break is ridiculous these days, when six innings and three earned runs are considered to be a “quality” start. Doc’s ERA is only a touch above Lee’s and, for not being much of a strikeout pitcher, Halladay nearly leads the league. Throw in just 21 walks and I just can’t see why he isn’t starting the All-Star Game.

COMMENT: Longoria didn’t make the Rays’ roster out of Spring Training, but since being summoned from a brief stay in the Minors, he’s emerged as the elite rookie in this year’s class. Longoria, with his 16 homers and 53 RBIs at the break, is the face of Tampa Bay’s unbelievable first half. It says something when Tampa Bay signed him to an extension before he barely had his feet wet in the bigs.

COMMENT: So they ended the first half with a seven-game skid? Did you think the Rays were going to go all season without a losing streak? Finishing second in the AL East to the reigning World Series champ Red Sox is accomplishment enough for a Rays squad that resided in the cellar a year ago. The question is whether Maddon can leads his troops to an unlikely October appearance.

APOLOGIES TO: Ron Gardenhire, Ozzie Guillen, Mike Scioscia

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Lance Berkman, Houston

COMMENT: This was by far the most difficult pick for me. There’s a strong case to be made for Utley’s season for first-place Philly, Jones’ quest for a .400 average and for what Pujols is still doing for a St. Louis team that was left for dead in the preseason polls. Shoot, I hate to even leave Hanley Ramirez off the list. But, strictly poring over the statistics, I can’t go against Berkman (.347/.443/.653, 22 HR, 30 2B, 73 RBIs, 56 BB vs. 61 K, 15 SB, 79 R).

COMMENT: I know, how good would that Alex Rios for Lincecum trade look right now for the Jays? Well, really, who knows with how Toronto’s staff hasn’t received much run support? Then again, Lincecum has gone 11-2 with a 2.57 ERA and 135 strikeouts against 47 walks for a Giants club that has actually scored fewer runs than the Blue Jays this season. That, to me, makes Lincecum the first-half Cy over the others.

COMMENT: Besides absolutely raking for my fantasy team — the South Side Spartans — Soto has been stellar (16 HR, 56 RBIs, .891 OPS) for the Cubbies. Growing up in Chicago, catcher always seemed to a trouble spot for the North Siders (Todd Hundley anyone?). It doesn’t appear to be that way anymore with Soto, who has been instrumental in the Cubs’ quest to shed that 100-years-with-no-World-Series label. And I’ll always pick a “true” rookie like Soto over someone like Fukudome.

COMMENT: When it’s all said and done, this honor might fall to Yost, whose Brewers could have a huge second half with C.C. Sabathia and Sheets heading their rotation. For now, the story of the NL Central has been the Cardinals — not the Cubs. Even I had the Cards finishing fifth in the division. It’ll be interesting to see who wins the three-team race between the Cubs, Brewers and Cardinals down the stretch. As good as the Cubs have been, this could go down to the wire.

(For what it’s worth, my preseason picks for these awards also included Halladay, Maddon and Soto for their respective accolades. Of course, I did pick Toronto, Cleveland and Seattle to each finish second in their respective divisions, too.)

TORONTO – I’m on short rest because my fat dog is taking to demanding food in the middle of the night. Down on the mound at Rogers Centre, A.J. Burnett is pitching on short rest because, well, it’s better than going with an all bullpen outing for the Blue Jays I suppose.

Some rotation matters to attend to. As Jays skip Cito Gaston stated after last night’s game, if Roy Halladay pitches in the All-Star Game, which he likely will, Burnett is probably going to start that first game on the road against the Rays on Friday.

That’d mean Doc would follow in the second tilt and either Jesse Litsch or John Parrish will take the ball in game three, with the other in the opener on the road against Baltimore on July 21st (right now, Parrish’s stock might be a little higher than young Jesse’s). As for the 22nd? That was deemed a possibility for Shaun Marcum.

Gaston said today that’s probably not going to be the case. Marcum — rehabbing his tender right elbow down in Florida — will likely be included in the following turn of Toronto’s rotation. That means perhaps he’ll take the ball on a limited pitch count (60-65) in the July 27th game at home against Seattle.

With Marcum a possible no-go on the 22nd against the O’s, that means the Jays will need a spot starter. This week, Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi said he’d prefer not to call David Purcey up again for that type of outing. If Purcey is up, Ricciardi wants it to be for a while so the Jays can take look at what they have there.

So that fifth starter slot is up in the air for the time being for your Toronto Blue Jays. Bill Murphy? Kane Davis? Davis Romero? Brian Tallet out of the bullpen? Some of you might sound the Brett Cecil (Double-A) horns, but I don’t see any way he comes up for a spot start, which would start the clock on him unnecessarily early.

My midseason awards picks will come this week. Stay tuned…

Today’s lineups:

NEW YORK (50-44) at TORONTO (46-48)at 1:07 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre

TORONTO — Not a whole heckuva lot going on around here this morning. There were tons of little items yesterday and a bunch of nothin’ going today. Although, we can offer a warm welcome to Alessandra, Alex Rios’ baby daughter born last night in Puerto Rico.

With Rios still away and Vernon Wells on the DL with his left hammy issue, Blue Jays mananger Cito Gaston stuck with Adam Lind in left, Brad Wilkerson in center and Mighty Joe Inglett in right field for today’s tilt against the Yankees.

Come Sunday, A.J. Burnett will take the mound on short rest for the Jays. He’ll be pitching on three days’ rest — something he said he’s never done before in his career. Well, Burnett is partly correct. He has pitched on three days’ rest before, just not under these circumstances.

Earlier this season, Burnett started on three days’ rest on April 20 after making a rare relief appearance the outing before. In 2004, Burnett came back on three days’ rest after having his previous start shortened to 30 pitches due to rain. So, this is the first time Burnett is making two legit starts in a row on such short notice (he logged 112 pitches on Wednesday).

Today’s lineups:

NEW YORK (49-44) at TORONTO (46-47)at 1:07 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre

TORONTO — There’s a bunch of little items to go over, so I’m going to attack this bullet style. Ready or not, here we go:

Alex Rios is in Puerto Rico, where his fiancee was due to give birth to their first child on Friday, and he’s expected to miss the entire Yankees series

A.J. Burnett is now scheduled to start on Sunday instead of left-hander Brian Tallet. Burnett will be pitching on three days’ rest

Vernon Wells is still with the team, but will head home to Texas over the break to begin rehab. He’ll rejoin with the club for the series in St. Pete against the Rays and can move his rehab to the club’s facility in Dunedin, Fla.

Aaron Hill still has no timetable for a return from the disabled list, but he at least has some good news going for him. Hill has started fielding grounders and hitting off a tee — his first baseball activity since being shut down in mid June

Shaun Marcum started throwing off a mound earlier this week and is on pace to come off the DL shortly after the break, perhaps as soon as July 21 or 22, which we already knew.

Jeremy Accardo is down to throw in a modified mound session on Saturday, meaning it’s a lighter work load — maybe 30 pitches or so — and he may be throwing off the front of the mound to lessen the stress on his arm

Rotation out of the All-Star break looks like Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett, Jesse Litsch, John Parrish and perhaps Shaun Marcum (if he’s ready). Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi doesn’t want to call up David Purcey if it’s just for one start: “I just don’t want to spot start him. … He’s deserving of more than one start. He’s had a great year in Triple-A, so to run him up for one start, if we bring him up, I think I’d like to have him for more than one start.”

Could that play into the Burnett trade rumors? Well, Ricciardi said there’s no talks going on, despite some published reports stating otherwise, but the GM also said that Dustin McGowan’s injury doesn’t affect the team possibly dealing Burnett: “I dont think McGowan affects anything. If we’re going to do anything, we’re going to do what helps out club. We’ve got Purcey, who can come up and pitch, but we have absolutely nothing going in the way of a trade. We’re not looking to trade anybody right now and we have no conversations going with anybody in that regard.”

So, there you go…

Today’s lineups:

NEW YORK (49-43) at TORONTO (45-47)at 7:07 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre

TORONTO — Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news? Well, I guess it’s up to me, so I’ll get the bad out of the way: Vernon Wells is expected to miss four to six weeks with a Grade 2 strain of his left hamstring.

That’s not good. So Wells is back on the DL and sidelined until some time in August. No word on who the Jays are going to be calling up, but scanning the Minor League report here, Matt Watson seems a likely candidate. Wayne Lydon and Buck Coats are also options. Travis Snider could be a darkhorse, but I doubt Toronto would want to start the clock on him so soon.

The good news? It doesn’t look like Dustin McGowan will need surgery on his sore right shoulder. He has a tear in hsi rotator cuff, but the MRI revealed no new damage when compared to an MRI McGowan had on his shoulder near the end of last season. It’s normal wear and tear, so his shoulder may just have some inflammation right now.

Just to be safe, Dr. Timothy “I performed Tommy John surgery on B.J. Ryan” Kremcheck is going to take a gander at McGowan’s MRI results on Monday, with an appointment with the pitcher to follow probably some time next week. McGowan is out at least a month and maybe longer. Don’t expect him back on a mound until mid to late August.

For now, Brian Tallet will make a spot start on Sunday. Following the All-Star break, David Purcey may get the call to fill in for McGowan. Shaun Marcum will be due to return shortly after the break as well, so that will help. If A.J. Burnett isn’t dealt, that’s a rotation of Roy Halladay, Burnett, Jesse Litsch, Marcum and Parrish/Purcey in the second half.

There’s still plenty of talk about Burnett being dealt before the trade deadline, though. The Jays have reportedly sent assistent GM Tony Lacava out to scout Phillies Minor Leagues in anticipation of Philadelphia coming calling on Burnett’s availability. The two sides have engaged in talks yet, but Toronto is getting ready to listen for sure.

ANAHEIM — On a relaxing Sunday afternoon here at Angel Stadium, a whole mess of Blue Jays were lounging around the clubhouse, watching the All-Star rosters being announced. Roy Halladay was over at his locker, just back from a run, getting ready to go hit the weightroom.

Needless to say, Doc was busy working when it was revealed that he was named to his fifth American League All-Star team. Halladay is the lone Blue Jays representative this season — a year after Alex Rios was the only Toronto player at the Midsummer Classic. Doc’s selection is well-deserved — he’s been a machine this year.

Nothing else really going on. Gregg Zaun caught wind of the fact that I have been running a lot and asked me if I got my run in today. Yep, 12 miles this morning. He told me he ran cross country way back in the day. Someone nearby in the clubhouse laughed and asked why, “Because my mom wouldn’t sign the permission slip for football.”

ANAHEIM — Casey Janssen and Jeremy Accardo have a double date with Dr. Lewis Yocum here tonight. Janssen’s hoping to get the go-ahead to begin throwing for the first time since season-ending surgery on his right shoulder in March. Accardo wants some peace of mind about his right forearm strain so he can breathe easier in bullpen sessions.

Janssen said today that he doesn’t see why he wouldn’t be cleared, considering how well his workouts have been going. Talked to pitching coach Brad Arnsberg, who caught Accardo in a long-toss session on Friday and said he doesn’t think Accardo will need Tommy John surgery — the worst-case scenario.

In a perfect world, which this is not, Janssen will be cleared and on pace to fight for a job with the Jays next spring. Accardo will be told there’s no ligament damage in his arm and he’ll continue his program with the goal of getting back in the bullpen within the next few weeks. We’ll know more later…

As for the ol’ lineup, Jays skip Cito Gaston did some tweaking today, moving Mighty Joe Inglett into the leadoff spot and giving Brad Wilkerson the nod in left (Adam Lind is the DH). If the new top of the lineup produces some tonight, Gaston said maybe he’ll stick with Inglett in the No. 1 hole for a while.

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